hydrography in africa: issues, problems and prospect · prospect by surv. (mrs.) angela etuonovbe...

HYDROGRAPHY IN AFRICA:

ISSUES, PROBLEMS AND

PROSPECT

BY

SURV. (MRS.) ANGELA ETUONOVBE LSM,

MNIS, FHRM, PSR, JP

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

ANGENE SURVEYS & CONSULTANTS

OUTLINE

• Introduction

• Why Africa

• A view of the various African regions

• The problems

• The prospects

• Conclusion / Recommendations

• The way forward.

XXV International Federation of Surveyors

Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 16 – 21

June 2014

INTRODUCTION

African countries without

exception and exaggeration

constitutes greater majority

of the under developed

nations of the world today

whose per capital income is

below the one dollar mark.

African nations and its people

with its vast hydrographic

potentials had continue to

wallow in abject poverty and

its people with no means of

sustenance save for mere

subsistence farming despite

the rich hydrographic

resources nature had

endowed them with. XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

INTRODUCTION CONT.

• The exploitation of these vast untapped hydrographic resources

all over the place in Africa would have caused great source of

employment and much wealth for the nations.

• Also, if the necessary impetus has been introduced,

Hydrography would have provided the necessary platform by

which development to some extent would have been achieved.

• That the significance of hydrography in the general

development of nations cannot be over emphasized. Despite

this significance and the fact that its practice has been on for

over a century, the level of hydrography awareness is very low

in Africa.XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

WHY AFRICA

Africa is the second-

largest of the seven

continents on Earth (Asia

is the largest continent).

Africa is bounded by the

Atlantic Ocean on the

west, the Indian Ocean on

the east, the

Mediterranean Sea on the

north, and the Red Sea on

the northeast.



June 2014

WHY AFRICA CONT.

• Most African countries are embedded in water

and are blessed with its wonderful gift of nature.

Unfortunately African nations had not been able

to exploit its hydrographic potentials.

• This is due essentially to lack of awareness and

the dearth of relevant technological know- how

with which hydrographic data and its potentials

need to be harnessed.



June 2014

VARIOUS AFRICAN REGIONS

CENTRAL AFRICA

• Dominated by

water --vast rivers

systems and lakes

• The region is

dominated by

Congo River basin

which drains an

area nearly as large

as the United States

east of the

Mississippi River.

Map of Central Africa



June 2014

VARIOUS AFRICAN REGIONS CONT

WEST AFRICA

• The rivers of West

Africa are important

resources for the

region.

• The rivers provide

sources of water for

agriculture and human

consumption.

• Those that flow into

the Atlantic Ocean are

important to trade and

shipping to the central

part of the continent.

Map showing rivers in West Africa



June 2014

EAST AFRICA

East Africa can be divided

geographically into three

sub regions. The first, the

Great Lakes Region,

includes Uganda, Kenya,

Tanzania, Rwanda, and

Burundi.

The second, the Horn of

Africa, includes Ethiopia,

Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti,

and Somalia.

And the last sub region is

the Indian Ocean islands

of Comoros and

Seychelles. XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

SOUTH AFRICA

The vast majority of South

Africa's border consists of

the ocean—or two

oceans, which meet at the

southwestern corner.

Several small rivers run

into the sea along the but

none is navigable and

none provides useful

natural harbors. The

coastline itself, being fairly

smooth, provides only

two good natural

harbours, XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

NORTH AFRICA



June 2014

THE PROBLEMS• With the revision of the IMO of the ‘Convention on Safety

of Life at Sea’ (SOLAS) chapter V, it details the obligation

of maritime states to provide hydrographic services.

• A critical look of Rules 4, 9 and 31 of chapter V (table 1)

are the most significant and respectively describe

navigational warnings, hydrographic services and danger

messages.

• Thus, governments of maritime nations are now obliged

to take all necessary steps to collect, handle, disseminate,

and keep up to date nautical information and

hydrographic services necessary for safe navigation in

their waters.

• Will this be possible in most African countries?XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

THE PROBLEMS CONT.• From discussions had with representative of some of the African Countries,

it was observed that most of the countries do not offer courses on

hydrography in the University, and the few that do offer such do not have

modern technique, skills and test books.

• That there is no institutions in Africa offering Category A (Professional) and

Category B (Technologists) training in hydrography. Even those engaged in

technical training are very few.

• Also, hydrography is not known to many of the policy makers and those in

Government; as a result, its importance is not known. Of course they know

that their maritime boundary should be secured but that is left with the

Navy anything else does not matter.

• That there are no strong institutional and legal frame work that will

enhance or facilitate the development of hydrographic practice in Africa.

• Also, the few Hydrographers in Africa are mostly in the Oil and Gas sector

and the Navy.XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

PROSPECTS

• In spite of the seeming lack of prospects for hydrography in

Africa, there are issues that if properly addressed will provide a

lot of prospects for the African nation and globally.

• ― Creating Awareness.

• ― Training Programmes

• ― Capacity Building

• Creating Awareness.

• There is a dare need for the usefulness and benefit of

hydrography to be taken to every nook and cranny of Africa

especially in countries where the policy makers do not know so

much of its importance and so little or no budget is allocated to

it. XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

PROSPECTS CONT.

• Training Programmes

• Hydrography should be introduced as a course for all African

Universities offering Surveying and Geoinformatics. It is in practice

in Nigeria and South Africa. All other countries should like wise do

same to promote the training of hydrography.

• Also, African Universities should introduce a Professional Master of

Hydrography or Marine Science with modern technologies as it is

done in the United Kingdom, Canada and other developed

countries. This in no small way will promote the awareness of

hydrography to such countries.

• Also, there is need for training of more Hydrography Category A

Surveyors. These could be made possible if there is an Hydrogaphy

School situated in Africa that will train this category of personnel.XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

PROSPECTS CONT.

• Capacity Building

• There is dare need for Capacity Building in the

following areas in most African Countries

― Hydrographic Data CollecJon

― Hydrography and Chart ProducJon / Update

Programs

― Marine SpaJal Data InundaJon

― The list is endless



June 2014

CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATIONS• There is need to continue to create more awareness of the importance of

hydrography to African countries especially in Central, East and West

Africa. Considering that hydrography has a low profile in African

Governmental circles compared with other technical areas involved in

environmental and geographical issues, an awareness strategy using an

established African Society could provide a remedy.

• Africa has rivers and hydrography has being a profession to a few , it is of

great interest to note that if hydrography becomes a major sector in

Africa, it will bring an economic boom and provide employment to many

as the rate of unemployment in many African countries is high.

• Unfortunately the human resource that would form the nucleus of

hydrographic capacity in Africa remains untapped. Other findings that

have proved inimical to the growth of hydrography in the region include

inadequate funding, lack of training opportunities and inadequate trained

manpower. There is need of a hydrographic training school in Africa.XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATIONS CONT.• Existing institutional and Legal framework should be strengthened to

facilitate the development of Hydrography in Africa using such

organizations as ECOWAS, AU and similar regional bodies.

• As a way of promoting hydrography within the African region, all

Government Survey Directorates are to establish Hydrographic Offices in

their organizations. And, there is urgent need for the establishment of

National Hydrographic Service / Office in all African Countries.

• There is an urgent need for capacity training in Africa. Institutions of higher

learning will need some hydrography text books this will aid in improving

the interest of the students and create more awareness of hydrography .

• There is a need for dialogue and information exchange on a regular basis

among the various organizations which can promote and enhance

exchange of experience, best practices and success stories among these

organizations. Professional institutions in surveying in Africa should assist

in creating more awareness on Hydrography.XXV International Federation of Surveyors


June 2014

THE WAY FORWARD

There is a great need for a call to action,

now is the time to do so.

And we can achieve this by creating

solutions for the challenges raised

immediately above.



June 2014

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING



June 2014

hydrography in africa: issues, problems and prospect · prospect by surv. (mrs.) angela etuonovbe...

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